Closing the deal with potential commissions
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My wife recently posted some of my art on our local Facebook community page. I did character sketches of some locals I had seen around town. The community loved it and many expressed interest in paying for a personalized commission. I posted a reply to each potential client, saying something like, "I'm available for commissions, please message me if interested." However, I only heard back from one person.
Any general advice on how to successfully follow up, or close the deal with interested customers?
I keep having this issue.. people are interested but don't actually follow through. It seems I need to brush up on my sales skills. Again, any advice is helpful!
#artadvice #commissions #sales #arthelp
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Yeah, that sounds about right for facebook clients
I suppose it depends on how much of a huckster you want to be.
If your goal is to sell as many commissions as possible (at the possible cost of alienating your friends on facebook) You could always research some classic salesmanship. Make people think they're getting a deal (Sale on holiday commissions!) Phrase your cold query in a more pressing manner maybe (I noticed you were interested in a commission and I JUST had a slot open up if you're interested, but you need to let me know soon!)
Though, really, I really need to brush up on my sales, too. (next convention's soon!)
But really, following up with a basic PM asking if they were interested was probably fine. It's a step further than most in a good way
It's just that people on facebook are more interested in giving moral support and pats on the back than anything else.Better places to get interest in commissions would probably be art fairs or comicons. Or, if you really wanna dive deep and don't mind drawing questionable content, furry conventions. Apparently those costumes have DEEP pockets...
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Thanks for the reply! I guess I'm lookin for general advice on securing online commissions. I know art fairs and cons are great, but I live in Alaska so those are few and far between haha
That's great advice though. I think next time, I will say, "Only a couple of commission spots left!" Or, "I only have 5 commission spots available. First come, first serve."
But yeah, there were plenty of people just commenting supportive stuff. But probably 5 or 6 people actually said they would pay to have their kids drawn. So when I followed up, they of course, didn't respond. I absolutely didn't want to seem pushy or salesman-like. I honestly thought if I simply told them, "I am available, feel free to message me", then they would message me. However, I'm now realizing I should have directly messaged them and been a bit more of a salesman when attempting to secure a commission.
Keep the advice coming! I haven't found much talk about stuff like this for smaller freelancers.
